Book Review

I’m so pleased to have this gorgeous and delicious looking cover grace my blog again!

If you have a sweet tooth and enjoy books about magic and witchcraft, then this one’s for you.

Deadly Sweet (Release Date: January 16, 2018)

Anise Wise loves three things: baking, potion making, and reading her spellbooks in blissful silence. She might not be the most powerful witch, but enchantment is a rare skill, and her ability to bake with magic is even rarer. Too bad one wants witchcraft on their campus. Anise’s dream of attending pastry school crumbles with rejection letter after rejection letter.

Desperate to escape her dead-end future, Anise contacts the long-lost relative she’s not supposed to know about. Great Aunt Agatha owns the only magic bakery in the US, and she suddenly needs a new apprentice. Anise is so excited she books it to New Mexico without thinking to ask what happened to the last girl.

The Spellwork Syndicate rules the local witches in Taos, but as “accidents” turn into full-out attacks on Anise’s life, their promises to keep her safe are less and less reassuring. Her cranky bodyguard is doing his best, but it’s hard to fight back when she has no idea who’s the enemy. Or why she became their target.

If Anise can’t find and stop whoever wants her dead, she’ll be more toasted than a crème brûlée.

Who knew baking cakes could be so life or death?

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My Thoughts…

I liked this book but I didn’t love it as much as I had hoped. The concept is really good but I wish there had been more focus on the magic aspect and a little less on the sweets.

Anise is a young kitchen witch with a magical affinity for baking. She has a lot of raw talent but due to societal prejudices she can’t get into any pastry schools in order to hone her craft.

After a magical mishap that could have devastating consequences, Anise goes to live with her great-aunt Agatha who happens to be a gifted baker and maybe more importantly, a powerful member of the “Syndicate”.

Once she arrives, Anise thinks her dreams have come true. Unfortunately, bad things start happening to her and she learns there is something more sinister at play, than just a jealous co-worker at a magical bakery.

As I mentioned, there is a heavy focus on baked goods. Anise is OBSESSED and it’s not a bad thing, I just wish there was a little less about the goodies and more about the “Spellwork Syndicate”. Particularly, the very powerful witches who make up its membership.

As this is the first book in a series, I think this aspect will be developed more in the next book and I look forward to that. I really enjoy Lola’s books, so I do hope this series gets better with every new installment.

Overall, it was a good book and I hope the storyline continues to develop and become a little more “deadly” than “sweet”.

Rating… C+ (3.5 Stars)

*Thanks to Ink Monster, Lola Dodge, and Netgalley for my copy of “Deadly Sweet” in exchange for my honest review